1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of manicuring. More specifically, this invention applies to nail care products and processes for treating nails.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are various methods and products for treating nails in order to enhance the aesthetic appearance of the nails. These include methods and products for coloring, hardening, and polishing the nails.
Conventional methods for treating the nails to achieve nail color and shine include applying colored nail polish. The application of nail polish is time consuming, as the nail polish often requires time to dry. Usually, the person having her nails treated has to sit still and refrain from using her hands until the nails dry, since accidental contact of any one of the nails with any object may cause the freshly applied color to smear. Various techniques have been used to accelerate the time required for drying the nails after nail polish has been applied. One such technique involves placing the hand under a nail dryer which blows air on the nail. Another technique involves applying a quick dry nail polish product to the nail after the nail polish has been applied. Additionally, nail polishes themselves may be formulated with a drying agent.
While using one or a combination of these conventional methods does reduce the time required for drying, it may still take about 10 minutes or longer for the nails to fully dry, depending on the thickness of the nail polish coat. Oftentimes, the nails only dry on the surface, and take much longer to completely harden, leaving the fresh coat susceptible to smearing for several hours after application.
Additionally, nail polish typically includes chemicals which exude potentially toxic fumes. A further major disadvantage of nail polish is that even if the coat applied does dry properly, it typically chips or peels within a day or two.
Other nail treatments involve hardening and/or strengthening the nails in order to reduce the chance of the nail chipping or breaking, which can be achieved by applying at least one coat of a hardening agent to the nail. There are many conventionally available hardening agents available on the market. One type of hardening agent which has a quick drying time is resin. While applying such hardening agent to the nail is not as time consuming as applying nail polish, typically, a person having her nails done also wants her nails to be colored. Since hardening agents are clear, a coat of nail polish is usually applied over the hardening agent. This results in the same problems of having to wait for the nails to dry, and susceptibility to smearing, as described above.
A recent technique for achieving color without nail polish involves sprinkling a pre colored acrylic polymer powder on top of a wet coat of nail hardener, or dipping a nail coated with resin into the powder. The powder then has to be smoothed onto the surface of the nail in order to achieve a uniform coat. Thus additional steps, such as applying another coat of adhesive, applying a coat of oil, and even applying a coat of clear nail polish, are required. Thus, this method may still be as time consuming as applying nail polish, as well as labor consuming.
The present invention provides a quick process for coloring nails without using nail polish. According to a preferred embodiment, a nail brush is dipped into a resin, liquid adhesive, or nail hardening agent, and then into a colored powder, and the nail is then brushed with the mixture to form a coat. The coat is both quick to apply and quick to dry, and results in strong, chip-resistant, shiny colored nails. The coat produced can remain unchipped and/or unpealed for several weeks or longer, and protect the natural nail from breaking.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a quick polish-free method for coloring nails which does not require a long amount of drying time.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a polish free method for coloring nails which results in a strong chip resistant protective shield for nails.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a polish free method for coloring nails which results in a smudge resistant, chip resistant and/or peel resistant color coat.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from a review of the following specification and accompanying drawings.